Seven Sutras

 

Soul Sutra

[Published in Rasputin 2015]

Hunkered down

In the mid-winter clay

My soul aligns

With the fire-pit flame.

(In a) Second Sutra

In the time it takes

to read these words

how many children

have screamed and died

as a result of 

Dominion’s

dreams?

Sunlight Sutra 

I fell asleep

on the living room floor

while reading

of quantum physics

and superstring theory.

The light shining in 

thru the semi-blinded windows

enlightened the lines

on the page

which, liberated,

lifted and swirled,

rearranging themselves

into

every book every made.

It’s all in my mind

already.

Reading just illuminates it

like the animal

in the road 

who suddenly seems to appear

from nowhere

in the lights.

Speaker Sutra

Given the choice

of gifts

between a gold

commemorative watch

and a volume

of Emily Dickinson

I found the latter

a better way

to pass the time.

Savonelli Sutra

A stout Irish plug

in a good man’s

now-mine pipe.

No-thing,

No plan.

No point

beyond the act

itself.

An eternal moment

sublime in pungent smoke.

St. Anthony Sutra

Wrestling with demons

(mine and ours)

in a straw-strewn earthen cell

I know 

that our 

salvation 

is but a sleep 

and dream 

away.

Sanford Sutra

Fred and Grady.

Aunt Esther

and

Lamont.

Their quips

in the junkyard

were the pearls

among the swine.